For students
We keep the receipts.
Most volunteering leaves you with nothing you can point at. Here, four things get counted and signed off — the hours you gave, the visits you played, the instruments you found, the people you brought. Each one earns a level, and each level prints a certificate with your name on it.
None of that is why you would do this. You would do it because a room of people who have not heard live music in months is a good place to spend a Saturday. But you should not have to take our word for the rest of it, and you should not have to reconstruct your own hours in April from memory.
Nothing here is a competition. There is no table of who is ahead, and there never will be — the levels are between you and your own record. Hours only count once a lead has signed them off, and a visit only counts once the residence confirms you were there, which is what makes them worth anything.
Service hours
Logged by you, signed off by a lead, and accepted by every school we have dealt with.
| Bronze | Silver | Gold | Platinum | Diamond |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 hours | 25 hours | 60 hours | 120 hours | 250 hours |
Performances played
Counted when the residence confirms you were there, not when you say so.
| Bronze | Silver | Gold |
|---|---|---|
| 3 visits | 10 visits | 20 visits |
Instruments placed
An instrument you found that reached a child who could not afford one.
| Bronze | Silver | Gold |
|---|---|---|
| 1 instrument | 3 instruments | 6 instruments |
Students brought in
Counted once the person you brought has hours signed off — not when they fill in a form.
| Bronze | Silver | Gold |
|---|---|---|
| 1 student | 3 students | 6 students |
And one that no number can earn
The Play It Forward Award, given once a year by Ethan Ng and the leads.
Every level above rewards volume, and the things worth most here aren't volume: the student who drove four hours to collect a cello, the one who kept writing to a residence that never replied, the one who taught a nine-year-old to tune. That's what this is for.
You spend years being taught something. This is where you find out it is worth something to someone else.
Play it forward.
Instruments where they’re needed.
Music where it’s missed.